Food Miles Vs Fair Trade – YOUR Choice
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March 15, 2008Today Treehugger reports on some interesting questions. Steve Brooks, the acting head of Oxfam Cymru – Oxfam in Wales – asks if should we avoid fair trade goods from the developing world to help cut down on food miles?
On a similar tack I have heard that Australian farmers trying to sell into Europe aren’t very happy with the ‘buy local – food miles’ approach either. I have to agree with Nick Ray – of the Ethical Supermarket Shopping Guide – who says it’s up to YOU, the consumer, to decide what you value then ‘Vote with your dollar’.
What Treehugger says:
“Brooks, for one, questions whether producing tropical fruits, vegetables, or flowers locally to cut down on food miles could result in a greater volume of emissions because of the energy requirements to maintain artificial conditions, i.e. greenhouses.
Moreover, he says, while local food advocates’ arguments for eating local – like supporting small farmers and giving back to the local economy – are worthy points, fair trade products have their own associated benefits, like supporting social and economic development projects like schools, clinics, clean water supply and proper sanitation.Ultimately Brooks argues that food transportation currently contributes relatively little to carbon dioxide emissions. He points out that if everyone in the United Kingdom switched one 100W light bulb to a low energy equivalent, CO² emissions would be reduced in one year by 4.7 times the amount saved by boycotting fresh fruit and vegetables from sub-Saharan Africa.”
This stuff isn’t easy is it?
6 Comments
I think the key here is to cut back on the demand for out of season produce and eat mostly locally. I do purchase fair trade coffee and chocolate from Oxfam (because I am weak and don’t like to go without my coffee especially), but I do not buy fruit and vegetables out of season and I try to buy from local farmers who farm in a sustainable and ethical method, that way I am cutting down on the use of pesticides, supporting small landholders and cutting my food mile emissions, whilst still supporting developing countries with my purchases.
Good thinking Sally.
Hello everyone.
Heard a great interview on ABC’s Radio National on this subject.
Turns out that food miles isn’t the whole story…
The issue is a lot more complex…
I agree that we need to consider all inputs into the food we eat, not just how far it’s traveled.
James McWilliams, author of A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America and assistant professor of history at Texas State University, was interviewed by Alan Saunders on By Design programme.
It was a compelling argument.
The example they use is that it’s more environmentally friendly for Londoners to eat NZ lamb… While the distance traveled is great the inputs in NZ to grow lamb are low (NZ is a great place or sheep apparently!). The inputs required to get UK lamb into the shops are much higher… fertilizers, feeds, etc.
I own a little restaurant in country NSW. We do our best to buy locally. Where we can’t we buy locally we buy the best that we can buy, from where-ever it comes from. The key for us is seasonality.
Fair trade in my mind is more of a social issue than an environmental issue.
As consumers we make choices all the time. And I know that sometimes I’ll purchase from a supplier that I support, and want my money to go to knowing that it may not be the most “economically rational” thing to be doing…
But then there’s an argument for for social / moral decision making being recognised in the economic process… “Behavioural economics” a whole different argument.
It IS a complex issue – thanks for another source to check Stuart.
Sally, my consumer behaviour is the same. You can only begin to make comparisons on the level to which Stuart has referred to when you have more information about the process of the production of the food. However, this information is often not available.
Food Miles VS Fair Trade
Have your (chocolate) cake and eat it too !
There are initiatives afoot to have some of neighbour New Guinea’s cocoa certified Free Trade. When this happens and if/when we can get some good chocolate made from it, Sally and others will be able to have some relief from their guilt ridden chocolate cravings.